Durham IT consultancy opens Scotland office

Durham-headquartered business and IT consultancy Waterstons has expanded North of the border, opening its first office in Scotland.

The company, which also boasts an office in London, opened the doors to its new home on the M8 corridor between Glasgow and Edinburgh last month.

For more than a decade, Waterstons has worked with a number of high profile clients in Scotland.

The firm, which employs 130 people across the UK, has already made three key appointments and is currently in the process of recruiting more employees for its base at Regus Eurocentral, Maxim Park, Motherwell.

Ricky Milliken has been appointed Regional Head – Scotland and will be leading the Waterstons team.

Sally Edgar has been appointed as Senior Transformation Consultant and Cosmin Argatu has relocated from Waterstons’ HQ to take up a position as Bespoke Consultant in the new office.

It is expected that a further four or five people will be based at the Scotland office initially, but it is hoped that this figure could grow to 30-50 within five years.

Waterstons has also partnered with Microsoft to run an education sector event later this month, and the company plans to host/co-host a series of business-focused and sector specific industry events in Scotland in 2018.

Ricky has more than 17 years’ experience in IT management, having previously worked at a number of technology companies, including Sx3, Northgate IS and Capita.

Ricky, who joined the company four months ago, said: “It’s the company values, capability and ambition of Waterstons that really resonated with me.

“We have a very efficient and professional business-focused outlook, offering technology as an enabler to maximise real business outcomes and benefits.

“We’ve been leading business transformation, solving business problems and helping clients to generate a real return on their technology investment right across the UK for 23 years.

“The move to open a dedicated office in Scotland demonstrates our commitment to our existing Scottish clients and provides a fantastic opportunity to grow both our business and our team.

“With an 80% client retention rate, we’ll be focusing on forging even deeper and wider links with our existing clients, while building upon our expertise in the higher education and manufacturing sector, including food and beverage.”

CEO Susan Bell said: “We have been in business for almost a quarter of a century, and these are very exciting times for Waterstons.

“We’re an ambitious company with a strong desire to use technology to ultimately improve their performance, and we’re hoping to be able to increase the number of employees significantly over the next few years by strengthening the relationships we already have and building new ones.

“As an IT consultancy with a keen business focus, technology is a huge part of our DNA, but ultimately it’s about putting people first and the pursuit of excellence. We have a strong culture of trust and transparency and our focus is making a real difference to our clients’ business.”